Thursday, August 20, 2009

Hooray for WAL-MART!!Hooray for Wal-Mart!Someone in the stands is shoutingHooray for Wal-Mart!1,2,3,4Who you gonna cheer forWAL-MART that's who!!

Poor Glenn Beck, (and poor FOX News Channel).

You know, it wasn't long ago that a news commentator (not necessarily a journalist) could get to say certain things about important people, say, such as Pres. Barack Obama. For instance: think of what might have happened to that staunch citizen who stood near a town hall meeting if his scribbled sign had said, "Death to Bush, Laura and her two stupid kids." But nowadays you can say just about anything, write anything, report anything and be listened to - even believed! Hey, remember "Dijongate?"But the American public, being a very fickle lot, have chosen not to endorse the idea that President Obama is, according to Glenn Beck, a racist - one who hates white people.

Eight more companies — including Allergan, Ally Bank, Best Buy, Broadview Security, CVS, Re-Bath, Travelocity, and Wal-Mart — have agreed to stop advertising on Glenn Beck’s Fox News show. Their announcements are in response to a ColorOfChange campaign after Beck said that President Obama is a “racist” with “a deep-seated hatred for white people.” A total of 20 companies have now pulled their advertising. “We support vigorous debate, especially around policy issues that affect millions of Americans, but we expect it to be informed, inclusive and respectful, in keeping with our company’s core values and commitment to diversity,” explained Carolyn Castel, Vice President of Corporate Communications for CVS Caremark.

As in all things American, the underdog gets more cheering than the blow-hard leader. That's why the situation with Glenn Beck calling President Obama "racist" has created a firestorm of criticism against Beck and FOX "News" Channel. In this instance, they consider Obama the underdog.Rep. Rick Larsen at a town hall meeting in Everett, WA:

Now folks will say that’s not true, but I’ve got facts on my side and you’ve got Glenn Beck on your side.It’s just not going to play off that way.

From Daily Kos:

According to the Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll, only 34 percent of respondents said Fox News was a reliable source, compared to the 41 percent who called it unreliable. Its competitors, CNN and MSNBC, didn't fare much better in the poll. CNN matched its 44 percent reliability rating with a 44 percent unreliability rating, and MSNBC raked in a 23 percent reliability rating compared to a 17 percent unreliability rating.

The divide between right and left has never been wider. Why? Maybe because hatred has found a voice through the liberty of free speech. Here in America we can say anything about anyone if we refer to it as our "opinion." We can call someone a killer just as long as we put "alleged" in front of "killer." And even if someone is too stupid to put caveats before their statements, they might not be called out. Here we have two videos showing people who are obviously self-righteous in their ideals. Self-righteous enough, that is, to think that offensive name-calling and portrayals of President Obama as Hitler will be given the same platform as the subject at hand: universal health care coverage.

So who are these people who have taken the chance of an open forum to demonstrate their anger to the detriment of those who want to exchange with their congressman or senator ideas of great national importance?

Some people think it's all the same people. But conservatives continue to deny they are orchestrating this stuff even though all of the crowds seem to have one thing in common.

It's pretty much an all-white constituency, which means it's not reflective of the people who voted Obama into office. Even reasonable Republicans acknowledge they haven't made inroads with minorities, which is the main reason Obama won, along with drawing a significant number of white voters, too.

I've been reading the health care bill and will attempt to come up with some form of annotation to a Christofascist's screed point by miserable, tedious, but still-lucid point. It's difficult: my annotations sometimes wind up being longer than the contended part of the bill. And I feel the need to make every statement as clear as possible, sometimes even writing in parables and metaphors (hmmm, sounds familiar) because, let's face it, many of the protesters (most of whom haven't even read the bill) have the cumulative I.Q. of a dead flashlight battery.

Eugene Kane Cont'd:

The crowds for town hall protests, tea parties and the birther movement are largely segregated by race which means those movements are not reflective of the majority of American voters right now.

My advice to the birthers, tea partiers and the town hall folks - who all might have reasonable complaints about Obama's policies - is this: Get yourself some color and you might get taken more seriously.

Sorry, Gene, but even if they wanted to take in some tokens, they couldn't yank them in fast enough. Since they don't associate with birther, tea partiers and town hall harpies, that means they're smarter than them. The Civil Rights movement of the 60s involved a certain amount of focus. The gay rights movement has (some) focus. But by showing that they'll grab onto anything, no matter how pointless and screwy it is shows that uber-right wingnuts have an enormous lack of focus as well as downright stupidity.